


Who are You Fighting For? (For Your Sake, Always.)

by narashikari



Series: Kari's Build AU-Verse [1]
Category: Kamen Rider - All Media Types, Kamen Rider Build
Genre: First Kiss, First Time, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Sento's POV, and ignores it quite blatantly, au from episode 44 onwards, heigen final compliant, sexual situation but no graphic smut, written before the finale aired
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-07-26 00:45:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16209140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/narashikari/pseuds/narashikari
Summary: Sento knows how he feels. Now it’s just a matter of owning up to it… and telling Ryuuga… and living long enough to do so.





	Who are You Fighting For? (For Your Sake, Always.)

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on tumblr @narashikari

**Right after Sento confronts Shinobu…**

Sento dreads going back to the café. **  
**

He’s certain Misora and Sawa would have words for him. As it is, Gen-san and Kazumin are shooting him exasperated looks, as if ready to lecture him for going off alone ( _again_ ). He tries to ignore their stares, all while his heart his thumping in anticipation of Misora and Sawa’s disappointment.

He avoids Banjou’s gaze. Grudgingly, he admits to himself that he knew Banjou would come after him, but he had no idea how Banjou knew so quickly. He wonders if he’s become so transparent to the musclehead that the idiot could predict his decisions so easily.

How terrible.

Somewhere inside him, Takumi admonishes him for his recklessness. “You said you believed in your friends,” he says.

“I don’t want them to get hurt either,” Sento rebutts. “What yo- What _our_ father has done… that’s on us. It’s up to me to stop him.”

Takumi stills at the mention of their father. He still seems to be in disbelief that Katsuragi Shinobu would be against them. Sento can’t blame him; he has a hard time believing it himself. They are, technically, one and the same, after all.

Takumi sighs. “I suppose you’re right,” he agrees cautiously. “I think they beg to differ though. Especially Banjou.” He pauses. “He seems fond of you.”

Sento frowns at him. “What do you mean?”

“He seemed upset when I… emerged. Much more than the others,” Takumi tells him. “He was  _devastated_  that you were gone.”

Sento scowls deeper. He’s unaware of what happened while Takumi was the dominant personality, aside from what the others had told him- which boiled down to them being annoyed with his counterpart and relieved that he was back. He certainly hasn’t heard of Banjou reacting any differently from everyone else. “Why would that musclehead idiot do that?”

Takumi raises a brow at him. “Really? You don’t know?”

“Know  _what_?” Sento growls. He’s seriously starting to get annoyed with his other self. No wonder the others were happy to be rid of him.

“Sento,” Takumi chides. “He told you he was fighting _for you_. That he wanted to end the war _for your sake_. He said that he is who he is _because of you_.” He levels a look at the Kamen Rider. “And _you’ve_ _said all the same things about him_ , too. It should be obvious, especially to us geniuses, what this is.”

Sento stares, dumbfound for a moment, before realizing what his counterpart meant. He sputters, “What- Me and _Banjou_? We… I…” Finally he spits out. “Banjou and I aren’t a couple!”

“ _Yet_ ,” Takumi sneers at him. “You’re completely head over heels in love with him.”

“I-in love? With Banjou?! That’s-” He stops. There’s no point to lying to someone who resides in his own head. “Y-Yeah. So what if I am in love with Banjou? It’s not like having you around changes that.”

“True,” Takumi finishes for him. He looks away. “Though for us to fall in love with Evolt…”

Equating Banjou- stupid, reckless, hot-tempered, selfless, kind, loyal, and utterly  _human_  Banjou- to a treacherous, power hungry, world devouring monster… Sento finds himself angry at the man he once was. “Don’t talk about my Banjou like that!” Patience snapping, Sento wildly reaches out for Takumi, as if to strangle him by the neck…

“Sento?”

The physicist blinks, finding himself out of the shared mindscape, reaching out for empty air. Gen-san looks at him with a quirked brow and a bemused smile. Kazumin is grinning like the cat that ate the proverbial canary, and Banjou…

He feels himself start to blush too. He wonders how much they heard of what he’s said, though judging by how red Banjou was, he supposes they’ve heard the most important thing.  _My Banjou_. It’s only then he notices his slip of tongue.

He’s so screwed. He’ll never hear the end of this, for sure.

Takumi snickers inside his head. Sento mentally shoves him away from his consciousness, but the mad scientist continues to laugh even as Kazumin starts giggling like a schoolgirl.

“Let’s go Gentoku,” Kazumin says, pulling the former aide away. “Let’s leave the lovebirds be.”

Gen-san  smirks, allowing himself to be pulled away by Grease, but not before flipping his moto jacket open to reveal a teal shirt with a black brush-stroke print saying:  **‘がんばろう!’**  (‘Good luck!’)

Kazumin laughs uproariously, his voice echoing even as he walks away with Gen-san (“Where the hell do you even get those shirts?!” he demands of Gen-san), leaving the two other Riders alone.

Sento fumes. “Those two…” Takumi continues to snigger annoyingly in his head, making him even more irritated as he rubs at his hair.

He hazards a look at Banjou, and couldn’t help but flush even more at his expression. The boxer is staring at Sento so intently, as if trying to look into his very soul. And he was opening and closing his mouth every few seconds, making little incomprehensible noises in the back of his throat.

Takumi is still laughing at him. “See, even they get it,” he points out. “You’re in denial, Sento. Everyone can see you two are a Best Match.”

“Shut up,” Sento murmurs, shutting out the other’s mental voice and shaking his head.

Takumi’s wording throws him off though. They’re a Best Match? Sure, he and Banjou are about as different as an organic and inorganic FullBottle are, but to say they were a Best Match? They do have the mutual desire to protect people and bring back love and peace, but was that really enough to make them a Best Match?

“I’m not in denial,” he says petulantly to himself.

“Who are you talking to? Sento?”

Sento startles. Banjou is still looking at him oddly. “Ah… I was talking to Katsuragi,” he admits.

“ _Katsuragi_?” There’s a tinge of anger and irritation in his tone. While Ryuuga never took out his anger over Katsuragi on Sento, he still feels a tinge of hurt from the way Ryuuga said his name. “You never said he was still in there.”

“I didn’t want to make a fuss over it,” Sento explains, hurriedly. “He’s just… there. Talks to me sometimes. Though it is the first time he’s been this… aggravating.”

Banjou’s brows furrow. “So that was him you were talking to when you said if you were in love with me?”

“Y-yeah,” Sento stammers. His heart begins to pound again as Banjou mulls it over. “H-he seems to think that, at least.” He curses silently when he feels his palms going cold with a nervous sweat.

He wonders why was he being nervous exactly at the moment he needed that big ego of his. Didn’t he call himself the righteous, egotistical hero of justice? Why was he so scared all of a sudden?

Banjou is taking his sweet time to think it through. His expression changes every few seconds, from contemplative to confused to understanding and then… scared? Why would he be scared too?

“So are you?”

And there it is, the question Sento dreaded to answer. His first impulse is to say ‘Yes,  _of course_ , you idiot musclehead!’ and jump Banjou, but he resists the urge to.

He thinks about the war, about the world he has to protect. The love and peace he swore to restore, the broken country he wants to see united again.

He thinks about how he wants a world where Misora and her dad are reunited, where Sawa can be free of Nanba’s grasp, where Kazumin can return to a farm with bountiful harvests, where Gentoku can honor his father’s wish and atone for his sins in peace.

He thinks of his mother, out in Hokuto, thinking that her family was lost when it wasn’t, unaware of the grievous sins her husband committed, not knowing that the man who claimed to have killed her child was the child she lost.

He thinks of his father, still out there with that black Pandora panel and the Lost Bottles, ready to destroy this world and everything he loved, losing all morality to the point of using his own child to gain power.

And he thinks of Banjou, who never did anything to be involved, didn’t need the weight of the world on his shoulders, didn’t deserve to lose his fiancee and himself in this mess. Banjou, who deserves someone more than a man walking to his own death, who could drag him into hell with him.

Banjou… no,  _Ryuuga_  deserves so much more. More than what he can give.

Ryuuga sighs loudly, snapping him out of his downward thought spiral. “I can practically hear you putting yourself down, Sento.” He puts a reassuring hand on his shoulder, and Sento can’t help but lean a little into the touch despite himself.

“I know you’re not going to answer that right now. You don’t need to.” Ryuuga bites his lip, hesitating, then adds, “But when we win… we’ll talk. I promise.”

 _When, not if,_ Sento notes. Ryuuga has so much faith in him, in _them_ , that he almost cries from his belief. “I… okay, Ryuuga.” He says hesitantly. “I promise, too. We’ll talk when it’s done.”

“You called me Ryuuga.” He says in surprise.

“It’s your name, after all. About time I used it right?” Sento replies, nudging him playfully. All while his thoughts drift to every moment Ryuuga stood by his side, from that first time they fought a Smash together, even before Ryuuga was Cross-Z.

“I… okay, yeah, it’s fine if it’s you.” Ryuuga’s ears have a pink tinge to them, but he smiles widely at him and wraps an arm around his neck. If he minded Sento leaning in just a bit and resting his head on his shoulder, Ryuuga says nothing. “Let’s go home, yeah? Misora and Sawa were pretty worried.”

Sento nods, gulping. Boy was he going to get it from the girls. “I might just die by their hands,” Sento jokes, imagining Sawa looming over him menacingly and Misora giving him her nightmare face.

Ryuuga grins. “Well I’ll be there to protect you from them then,” he chuckles. His heart skips a beat at the words, because to him it sounds like Ryuuga was swearing to protect him from more than just the girls’ telling off. As the two start on their way back to Nascita, Sento laughs.

The war is still raging, and they still need to stop his father. The future is uncertain, their fates still hanging in the balance. But at least he has his partner with him through it all. His Best Match. As long as they’re together, they’re unstoppable. Sento knows this.

He  _loves_  Banjou Ryuuga. With any luck, he might live long enough to be loved back, too.

Sento smiles, and dares to hope.

(After he recovers from the girls’ beatdown, of course.)

=========

**Some weeks after.**

Sento stares at the smoking remnants of the Pandora’s Box, destroyed after all the years of pain and suffering it caused, and the thought strikes him.

It’s over. It’s all over.

Evolt’s gone.

The Sky Wall’s gone.

_They won._

“Sento!”

He shakily turns, wincing as even the slight movement sends an ache through his limbs. He’s barely able to catch Misora as she flings herself into his arms, with Sawa right on her heels. The Riders walk (well, limp) towards him, smiling as Sento embraces the two girls in return.

“You okay, Sento?” Kazumin asks. “Katsuragi-“

Sento nods as the girls pull away. “Yeah…” In the end, his father’s sacrifice wasn’t in vain. He was one of the good guys after all. “His plan worked..”

His heart aches thinking about how to tell his mother. He wonders if he would have the strength to face her at all, with the face of a stranger and news of the death of a man she already mourned.

His eyes meet Ryuuga’s, and is relieved to see that the other is more or less okay, aside from the usual injuries that they expected. Ryuuga nods at him as if to say, “I’m fine,” and Sento nods back, “So am I.”

He pulls away from the girls, despite their protests and the fact he was swaying quite a bit. Sento stumbles the short distance between him and his partner, who looks at him with a neutral expression.

“So. Ah, I made a promise.” Sento starts, before he can lose the confidence he gained from their victory.

“You really want to talk about this with them here?” Ryuuga says, gesturing to the others.

“I don’t really care either way,” Sento retorts. “I really want to say this now, because I think I might lose my nerve soon.”

“Okay.” Ryuuga nods, “I’m listening.”

Sento gulps, gathering his thoughts for a moment. He wants to say so many things, about how he admired Ryuuga, how Ryuuga changed him for the better, how Ryuuga gave him a reason to fight, how he thought he was vital to making Build a hero. He wants to tell Ryuuga how thankful he is for his friendship, their partnership, how he wouldn’t have won if Ryuuga wasn’t there. His heart was full of love for this idiot musclehead that it threatened to burst from his chest.

He ends up blurting out, “Aishiteru!!”

Ryuuga’s eyes widen, and behind him Sento can hear both Misora and Sawa squeal, and Kazumin and Gen-san snicker. Sento feels his face flush as Ryuuga gapes at him. Well, there went Sento’s plans for a romantic confession.

When Ryuuga finally seems to have gathered his wits, his eyes blinking and the confusion fading away. “S-say that again.”

“Huh?” Sento asks, blinking.

“Say it again,” Ryuuga requests, in…  _desperation_? “Please.”

Sento blinks at him, then looks away. He feels his face redden even more, making him feel like the protagonist of a shoujo manga. He blushes even more when he sees the others grinning at him and pumping their fists, mouthing “Go for it Sento!” and “You can do it!”

Why was he so embarrassed about this? Ryuuga is an amazing guy, his best friend and his partner. Why was he shy about admitting this? They’ve been through so much together, saved the world together, even shared a body as Cross-ZBuild!

Gathering his resolve and the last bits of his courage, Sento looks straight at Ryuuga and repeats it in the most firm and certain voice he can muster. “Aishiteru, Ryuuga.”

This time, Kazumin squeals too. Gen-san snorts. Takumi remains mercifully silent, merely observing the events from the comfort of their shared mindscape.

Ryuuga’s face of panic melts away into relief, then joy, and Sento could barely breathe at how beautiful his smile was. “Oh, what a relief.” He says. “I thought you… I…”

“What? What else would I be, you idiot musclehead? Sento asks. “ _Of course_  I’m in love with you. I don’t think we could’ve gone through what we did and not be.” The confession spills out of him before he could stop himself.

Ryuuga laughs, sniffling. “You’re right. You  _always_  are, you insufferable genius.” He sighs and tugs Sento into his arms. “But for the record… it’s the same for me. Aishiteru, Sento.”

Sento all but melts at the words, sinking into Ryuuga’s warmth, burying his nose into Ryuuga’s neck. He smells of cologne and smoke (maybe from his Cross Z Magma form?) and home, and he revels in it. How long has it been since Sento felt like this? Like there was something, no,  _someone_  he can come home to?

They stay like that for what could have been minutes or days, but eventually Sento leans away to look at Ryuuga. Ryuuga smiles fondly at him, and Sento can’t help but return the gaze. A small smile quirks up on Ryuuga’s lips, and Sento finds himself licking his own in anticipation.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Takumi irritatedly cries from inside his head, “Just kiss him already!”

Similarly, Misora says, “Are you idiots going to kiss or do we have to force you to?” Sawa jeers her assent while Kazumin and Gen-san make noises of fake disgust.

Ryuuga laughs. “Don’t have to tell me twice,” and makes the first move.

Sento might only have vague memories of his past as Katsuragi Takumi, but he knows this much: he has never been kissed before. He flails a little, not really knowing how to respond except to close his eyes and kiss in return, like he’s seen people do in the movies. He tries to analyze the exact way he could make it even more pleasurable, but then Ryuuga adjusts the angle just so and all thought gets chucked out of his brain in favor of chasing the thrills Ryuuga sent down his spine.

When they part to catch their breath, all Sento could pant out is “Wow. Oh,  _wow_.” He could still taste Ryuuga on himself- the bitterness of the coffee he had, the spice of the cup ramen he ate for breakfast, and something he can’t quite place that Sento puts down to being Ryuuga’s own unique flavor. He thinks he could get addicted to that taste.

“Glad you liked it,” Ryuuga cheekily says. He looks behind Sento, then around him, then flushes. “Oh. Uh… I didn’t know we had an audience.”

Sento blinks and copies him, before blushing furiously. While they were…  _distracted_ , a crowd of civilians had gathered around them and was looking at them with avid interest. Their eerie silence makes him want to sink into the ground and die of embarrassment.

He even sees a few phones and cameras trained on them, and he realizes that maybe by now the entire world’s seen the Kamen Riders kiss. His first kiss is out on the Internet for everyone and their mother to see! Oh gods,  _his mother_ probably saw it too!

Then the crowd cheers.  _For Sento and Ryuuga._

Sento stares, open-mouthed, then looks at his friends for support. They’re all laughing at the pair of them. “Oi, what the hell?” Ryuuga demands.

“Looks like everyone knew about you two after all,” Sawa snickers. “Then again you two were really obvious.”

Misora snorts. “Have you seen the forums? It’s all people talk about. There’s BuildCross fanfic and fanart everywhere on the Net.”

“What?!” They both yelp. “BuildCross?” The idea of people writing and drawing things about them was rather disconcerting.

“Didn’t help that you two were being all sappy during the proxy battle we had,” Kazumin adds. “That was televised, remember?”

The couple finally look at Gen-san, waiting for him to get a shot in, when the former aide simply grins and opens his jacket to reveal his quote-printed shirt of the day:

‘Touto’s government ships it!’

“Eeeeeeeeeeeh? Seriously?!” Ryuuga whines.

Finally annoyed, Sento yells, “Alright that’s it! I’ve had enough!” He activates two FullBottles and puts them in his Driver. Before it can even proclaim them a Best Match, he cranks it up and transforms into Build TakaGattling. “Screw this! Ryuuga, let’s go!”

The crowds gasps at the live transformation, only to collectively yelp as Sento lifts Ryuuga in his arms like a bride. Even their allies gape at the sight, mouths dropped open in shock.

Despite sputtering, Ryuuga puts his arms around Sento’s neck. “Oi, Sento, what the f-“ Ryuuga doesn’t even finish his sentence before he takes off, leaving everyone else behind. Much like the first time they met, Ryuuga is screaming as he clings on to Sento for dear life.

Sento vaguely hears the crowd going wild and cameras frantically snapping and Sawa yelling “You’re just making it  _worse_!” but he really didn’t give a damn at the moment. All he cares about is being alone with Ryuuga even for a short while.

Takumi snorts, “Now people will think you’ve gone and eloped or something.” Sento firmly shuts him out, because he does not want his other self to comment on his intentions- which are definitely venturing far,  _far_  down the gutter. Takumi seems to have known what Sento was thinking regardless, because he squeaks and shuts his side of their mental connection too.

After a short flight they land on the roof of Nascita’s building, and Sento cancels his henshin with Ryuuga still in his arms. Sento’s barely set Ryuuga down before he’s being pulled into the building, down the stairs into the café. Ryuuga, still holding Sento’s hand, leads him down his own lab through the hidden door, then locks the refrigerator door firmly.

Then, he rotates Sento so he was facing him, and Sento finds himself being pushed up against a wall with Ryuuga pinning him there by his wrist. “Ryuuga?” Sento breathes, heart hammering, hyperaware of the fact Ryuuga ensured their privacy. He wonders if Ryuuga is thinking along the same lines as he is, and his stomach does a flip in his nerves and excitement.

“Hm?” Ryuuga hums against his neck, as he places his other hand on Sento’s waist, thumb absently rubbing his hip bone through his jeans. Sento feels feather-light kisses and nips along his shoulder and neck, making him weak around the knees.

“Stop teasing me,” Sento groans in frustration, grabbing Ryuuga by his belt loops. “I want-“ He yelps and moans as Ryuuga presses a kiss on a particular part of his neck that makes his eyes roll back into his head. Oh, Ryuuga was _good_ at this, he thinks dizzily.

“Tell me what you want Sento,” Ryuuga says, and Sento’s heart skips a beat at the command, blood rushing south.

He sounds so…  _dominating_ , so in control of the situation, and Sento finds that even more arousing than just the physical contact. He’s starting to get dizzy, and he’s so aroused that he wonders if he can get off on Ryuuga’s voice alone. A flush climbs up from his chest to his neck and ears, and Sento feels as though he were on fire.

“I… I want  _everything_.” Sento chokes out. He hopes Ryuuga gets what he means, and soon, because he really does not want to embarrass himself on his first time. It’s only propriety that prevents him from asking Ryuuga his real desire.

Fortunately, he does, because a second later Sento finds himself on his back in bed, Ryuuga looming over him. “As you wish, my love.”

If Sento wasn’t so turned on already, he definitely is now. He couldn’t even bring himself to tease Ryuuga for the cheesy pet name, because it’s Ryuuga’s cheesy pet name for  _him_. As if to prove it, a tuft of his hair stood on end of its own accord the same time his pants become uncomfortably tight. “Ryuuga!” he pants as his hands start wandering down dangerous territory.

“Relax Sento,” hushes Ryuuga. “Let me do the work. You’ve done so much already… let me reward your efforts, hm?” He gently brushes Sento’s bangs back as he says this. “That is what a lover does, after all.”

 _Lover_. Sento thinks while Ryuuga discards his shirt, chucking it to the side, and divests Sento of his own. It’s quickly followed by the rest of their clothes, their Drivers landing on the pile of fabric Ryuuga’s made. As soon as the final garment lands on the floor, Ryuuga goes back to kissing and ravishing him.

Sento soon loses awareness to everything but Ryuuga touching him and whispering words of endearment and affection. He finds himself being unable to say anything beyond “Ryuuga” and “more” mixed with cursing and moaning. When his brain tries to conjure coherent thought, all it could come up with was a endless plea for the high his body sought.

And he knows it’s not just him- he can tell Ryuuga is just desperate as he is. Ryuuga’s gripping him hard enough that he thinks his hips would bruise, and their lovemaking is so wild that the headboard hits the wall repeatedly. “Fuck, Sento, you feel great,” Ryuuga groans in his ear. “So fucking good.”

Sento moans and preens at the praise. He’s pretty certain that he’d regret letting Ryuuga be so rough later, but he doesn’t really care at the moment. He knows that they both need this, the intensity of it all, to remind each other that they were alive, that they made it out, that they made it out together. That this was real, and- Sento screams as Ryuuga pushes into him and pulls him down further into the abyss of pleasure.

The rest of it can wait until later, Sento thinks. They finally have the rest of their lives to do it, so he decides to just let go and enjoy the moment in the fullest.

=======

**Two years later**

“You shouldn’t be awake this late,” a sleepy voice reprimands him, gently nudging him.

The physicist, neck-deep in his research, looks up from his computer to his husband looking over his shoulder, wrapping his arms around his waist. He looks at the clock in the corner of his monitor and winces. It’s already eleven at night. “Ah, sorry, I lost track of time again. Did I keep you up waiting?” He fondly caresses his face, the gold ring on his finger glinting in the dim lighting.

“Nah,” Ryuuga yawns, “I’ve only managed to put Yumi to bed. She’s pretty energetic today, I was barely even able to convince her to go to sleep.” He buries his face in Sento’s neck. “Just like her father.”

Sento snorts, but gets the message. “Alright already, I’m coming.” He closes the program he was using and shuts his computer down. Ryuuga momentarily releases him go to let him stand, then takes his hand to lead them to their bedroom.

They pause for a moment at Yumi’s doorway. The little girl is snoring and clutching the chibi Cross-ZBuild plushie Gen-san gave her on her birthday. She doesn’t stir even as Sento sits at her bedside and kisses her hair, wishing her sweet dreams.

Sento reminisces, for a moment, on how their strange little family was formed. He and Ryuuga had eloped a year and a half ago, to escape the paparazzi that hounded them every time they so much as stepped out of their home. They were wed by Onari at his master’s temple, and their marriage was blessed by the space god himself, Kazuraba Kouta. The only other witnesses were Tenkuuji Takeru and his allies. The reception was a memorable event with many Riders and Rider allies coming to offer their congratulations to the newlyweds. They spent two months on that world, exploring a Japan that never had a Sky Wall and a civil war that tore it apart.

After they said their goodbyes, they went back to their world to tour Hokuto anonymously, only to run across a five-year-old abandoned in a run-down house a week in. After asking around town, they found out that no one quite knew who the child was, only that the house’s previous owners had been dead for some time. When they asked the child who she was, all she could answer was her first name: Yumi, and her birthday: September third, 2013.

Ryuuga and Sento had wondered what to do about it for a while, because they had both gotten attached to Yumi very quickly, and vice versa. Finally they agreed that they could try getting custody of her, if she agreed. Yumi was more than happy to be with them, and thanks to the help of a discrete social worker, Sento and Ryuuga were legally married and Yumi became their adopted daughter.

It was a great shock to the others when they returned to Nascita half a year after they left, with wedding rings on their fingers and a little girl who called Sento “papa” and Ryuuga “tou-chan”. After explaining everything, Misora Rider-kicked both of them in the stomach before she and Sawa cooed over Yumi, while Kazumin and Gen-san fought over who got to be Yumi’s godfather (Gen-san won,  _barely_ , and only because Yumi liked his shirts). His mother had nearly fainted when they told her and that caused Misora to be angry all over again.

Yumi quickly became the apple of everyone’s eye. Misora and Sawa adore her, Gen-san treats her as if she were his own blood, and Kazumin dotes on her like an uncle would. His mother has taken to being a grandmother rather quickly, too.

“Sento,” Ryuuga says, shaking him out of his thoughts. “Come to bed with me.”

Sento nods, and after tucking the blankets around his daughter he closes the door to her room, and lets Ryuuga tug him back into their bedroom. After Sento deposits his ring into a tiny bowl with Ryuuga’s, he strips down to his underwear and tosses the clothes into the hamper.

He slips into the covers, Ryuuga doing the same on the other side, and they snuggle up to each other, looking at each other eye to eye.

Without saying a word, they lean into each other. They kiss, without any desire to go further, but with the same fire as if they did. Long, deep, toe-tingling and filled with love and passion.

“Aishiteru, Ryuuga.” The words come easily now, without embarrassment or shyness. He marvels how he could ever have been, when he should’ve seen that Ryuuga was his One, his Best Match, the day they met.

“Aishiteru, Sento.” There isn’t hesitance or doubt in his tone. Only the love that grew stronger with time, deepening in their shared adversity, and the gentle heat that Ryuuga radiated even out of his Rider forms.

Sento smiles, burying further into his warmth. Ryuuga pulls him closer and Sento sighs. They fall asleep holding each other, legs tangled together, listening to the other’s heartbeat.

Sento’s last thought as he drifts off is a hope that this love and peace lasts for as long as he lives and beyond.

(And it does.)


End file.
